One thing that I have continually found interesting as we've traveled through authors is the personification of nature. In The Last Man, Shelley personifies nature as a woman, "In the midst of all this appalling ruin of the monuments of man's power, nature asserted her ascendancy, and shone more beauteous from the contrast" (p.883). Nature, particularly the ocean, is also given a female gender during the great storm, "and the angry mother sheltered her endangered child" (p.885). This personification reminded me of a comparison I made in our first paper between Margaret and nature in Wordsworth's the ruined cottage. I had written that the distinct difference between Margaret and her garden was that nature has no limits. Even in its cycle of growth, death, and re-growth it can surpass the creations of man. However, women are limited in their opportunities because they are not given equity to men. I found this still appropriate when our last man was reflecting on his beloved, but lost companions. It seemed to me that the speaker's memory of Clara was far less fond or flattering than Adrian's. Adrian had with, "his intellect and rare qualities, given a glory to my life, which without him it had never known" meanwhile Clara "last daughters of man" was comprised of "all those feminine and maiden virtues which poets...strove to express" (p.889). The speaker even questions whether or not he should be so sad that her life was forfeit, because he was sure she would be in misery. "But her heart was the throne of love, and the sensibility her lovely countenance expressed" set her up for a life of misery because she was a typical woman (p.889). The speaker also continues expressing how wonderful Adrian was because he found "a part of her spirit alive in her brother", her being his deceased wife, which reminded me of Wollstonecraft's idea that extraordinary women are just souls of men in female bodies. Could this be Shelley turning her mother's words around? This comparison I made in my paper for Wordsworth and that I make now still causes me to wonder why the author crafted such a woman. I wonder what the purpose is, especially considering how extraordinary Shelley and her mother before her were. Is it meant to be a subtle recognition through nature that women are vast, tumultuous and unable to be fully comprehended in their often weakened, traditional state? Are the multiple "hers" that are referenced supposed to show more varied ideas of women?
I think your questions here become more interesting when looking at Campbell's poem where he personifies the sun as masculine ("The Sun himself"), while Creation is referred to as a "her". The roles of feminine and masculine seem to switch between the two writers: Shelley personifies the destructive ocean as feminine, while Campbell personifies the destructive sun as masculine. I'm not sure if this would go anywhere, but it's interesting to me as well.
ReplyDeleteYou're analysis is really interesting! Nature is commonly personified as a woman, but when considering Shelley's grief as an aspect that heavily influenced this story, it complicates her portrayal of womanhood. Why give the ocean a feminine personification? Maybe the answer is simple: Mother Nature? But if so much of Shelley's grief is present in the text, and the "water--cause of my woes..." is meant to represent portions of that grief, why make it feminine?
ReplyDeleteOn page 884 she also writes, "The laughing morning air filled them while sun-light bathed earth, sky and ocean- the placid waves divided to receive our kneel, and playfully kissed the dark sides of our little skiff, murmuring a welcome..." She uses a lot o personification in the description of the land, without really naming it as well, in order to describe the surroundings. It is pretty neat what you have pointed out in the writings. Especially what you said about Mary Shelly possible turning her mothers words around.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Nature being written as a woman had something to do with combating the helplessness Shelley must have felt when nature worked against her. For instance, after the drowning of her husband, Shelley may have wished to have had control and power over the situation. If nature is being written as a woman, potentially as someone Shelley can relate to easier, it might offer her some degree of comfort because it gives the illusion of control over the situation.
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